Skip to content

Maine · Nonprofit

Creative Works

Creative Works (Maine) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $27,428 to it, the largest being Saco & Biddeford Savings Charitable Foundation ($17,840). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$33M
Funders on record
4
Grants received
$27k
Net assets
$30M
2/4 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 0%
01What it does

What Creative Works does

Mission

At Creative Works, we build communities of inclusion one relationship, one experience, and one person at a time. We believe in creating opportunities for people to contribute to their communities, to pursue their potential and to be treated with dignity and respect.We envision a world without barriers, and we strive towards a standard of excellence throughout our programs to ensure all participants and members of Creative Works are supported and fulfilled.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Residential Services provide support for individuals with disabilities in the individuals' home or in CW Residences, and range from 24-hour support to just a few hours each week. Residential services assist with social skills, community access, health and safety, household maintenance, self-advocacy, and many other needs in order to provide the most comprehensive and therapeutic support possible.

    $19,706,367 spent$22,582,728 earned by the program
    82% of program spending
  2. Community Day Services enable individuals with disabilities to participate fully in community life and to increase their self-reliance through activities that are enriching, meaningful and goal-oriented. Day services are designed to maximize an individual's ability to manage everyday life activities in communities rich with resources. A variety of skill-building options are offered, in addition to readiness skills, volunteer opportunities, and means of artistic expression, all based upon individual needs.

    $3,222,176 spent$3,461,147 earned by the program
    13% of program spending
  3. Maine Woodworks is a social enterprise of Creative Works that employs an integrated workforce consisting of people with and without disabilities. All employees earn a competitive wage and work in an environment that fosters both the development and mastery of various furniture-making skills and independence within their work environment. Our wood shop produces bench-crafted, cottage-style furniture built with renewable North American hardwoods and environmentally friendly finishes. Our colorful line of furniture is sold throughout the United States, and proceeds from sales are used to further the social mission of Creative Works.

    $479,831 spent$354,475 earned by the program
    2% of program spending
  4. Other program services, not described on the e-filed return.

    $551,333 spent$571,746 earned by the program
    2% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $23,959,707.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($15M) Expenses 100 ($15M) Net assets 100 ($17M)2018 Revenue 113 ($18M) Expenses 111 ($17M) Net assets 102 ($18M)2019 Revenue 132 ($20M) Expenses 130 ($20M) Net assets 105 ($18M)2020 Revenue 145 ($22M) Expenses 145 ($22M) Net assets 104 ($18M)2021 Revenue 162 ($25M) Expenses 148 ($23M) Net assets 118 ($20M)2022 Revenue 178 ($28M) Expenses 163 ($25M) Net assets 120 ($21M)2023 Revenue 167 ($26M) Expenses 163 ($25M) Net assets 126 ($22M)2024 Revenue 175 ($27M) Expenses 172 ($26M) Net assets 134 ($23M)2025 Revenue 214 ($33M) Expenses 173 ($27M) Net assets 173 ($30M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (214)Expenses (173)Net assets (173)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $26M to $33M (+24%).

$20M
$20M
$21M
$25M
$24M
$24M
$25M
$26M
$33M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

How it's funded, over time

Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 2% · 2021 13% · 2022 4% · 2023 1% · 2025 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

13% of Creative Works’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (13% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 457 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$48k
’17
$466k
’18
$410k
’19
−$41k
’20
$2.1M
’21
$2.4M
’22
$572k
’23
$574k
’24
$6.3M
’25
1.7
months of
reserve

Leadership and staff

The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.

Chief executive

Matthew Hickey

CEO

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed10910111213131414
Joined·+0+1+2+1+1+2+3+1
No longer listed·10100221
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2018 → 2023: the base held at 2 funders, grant income fell $10k → $3k.

1 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

From the IRS filings of Creative Works’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How concentrated its funding is

Creative Works leans on a few funders — its largest provides 65% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

65%
largest funder
100%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 74% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 99% · 2022 99% · 2023 99% — growing more concentrated.

“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

Where its funders are

65% of Creative Works's grant income comes from Maine funders.

ME
DE
AZ

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Maine out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $88 arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

Creative Works runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 274 employment nonprofits its size.

Operating margin19% · top quartile
Months of reserve1.7mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)10% · above the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 274 employment nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025

Organizations like Creative Works

Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In Maine

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

90% of spending goes to programs.

Program 90%Management 10%Fundraising 0%

Governance

7
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

98%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Creative Works: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds Creative Works?
Creative Works (Maine) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $27,428 to it, the largest being Saco & Biddeford Savings Charitable Foundation ($17,840). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Creative Works have?
IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $27,428 in grants to Creative Works, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Creative Works?
Saco & Biddeford Savings Charitable Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $17,840 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Creative Works find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Maine. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.

Play a game about who funds Creative Works →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 4 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing